One suggestion: Run some numbers and see how often you would have to be out on medical to break even.

For example, using the numbers from a TOTALLY DIFFERENT insurance offer from ALPA, I figured I would need to be injured and off work at least six months out of every three years to break even.

If I missed more work than that, it would pay off. Needless to say, I wasn't Negateer enough to spring for the coverage.

Your situation may be different, but that is one way to figure out if that coverage is "worth it" to you.

I agree 100%, and I am NOT a fan of the MCL, for the reasons you stated. We would be the poor [deleted] that have to work with these skyGods, that know everything, and yet can't seem to fly an airplane, and our lives would be hell. I've had to do something similar in a previous life, where I worked with both ab-initio and off-the-street people. For the most part, experience won. At the regional level, there are cases where the more experienced piltos just had more bad habits, but not at the global carriers.

I'm not promoting a method here. I was simply speculating on what approaches airlines might take to replace retiring pilots, and it seems to me that some of our assumptions about Delta wanting to pay us more to get someone else to come over, are a little simplistic.

2.5 months for me (Dec. 2010-Feb 2011). Completely reaffirmed my suspicions that I am, in fact, lazy and would be quite happy never working another day in my life.

DAL has recently announced some partnerships with flight schools. I honestly would not be surprised to see A4A push for MCL programs. They seem to be laying the framework in today's pilot shortage article published by the Wall St Journal.

Cheap hotel rooms and variety of airplanes. MCO may have lots of airplanes overnighting, but it's a lot of variety of airplanes. 757/767, A320, M88 and 737 all visit. Bases for all of them would mean small bases of each category with lots of extra reserve coverage.

And since I imagine hotels rooms aren't that expensive, the two combine to make it not a base. The same question was asked about BOS at a pilot meeting (in JFK) and the answer was "we look at it every so often but hotel rooms are cheap in BOS".

And guess what, the Lufthansa trainees are trained in the US...

Similar to Lufhansa, ANA does the same with their newhires.
Hire with no flight experience, they come to the US for 18 months to be trained, then go back to Japan to fly 767s. They do quite well.

EVA air (Taiwan) trainees come here for 9 months.

BTW, for their newhire pilot trainees, the ANA pilot union negotiated a 3-day work week while in training and continuous per-diem.

Those guys are in Vegas every weekend...

Cheers
George

Exactly. As it was intelligently pointed out by another poster, these articles aren't random. Delta's safety guy was quoted. That didn't happen without permission, did it? Like you, I understand the article to be an argument, not an innocent anectdote.

Bottom line is that we're not reaching "Peak" pilot production, as was rumored for oil. We've just run out of very cheap pilots to procure. I'm just not 100% sure how to make sure this translates into gains for pilots already married to their airline.

And that might be the key, right there. I don't know if a realtionship between Delta and person with a contract to train as a pilot for Delta, and paid (or subsidized) by Delta, can exist outside of our contract. In other words, if someone is getting paid by Delta to train, are they not a new-hire? In which case... we have leverage.

Right now (unless it changed in C2012, and I don't think it did) new hire pilots >at Delta< who are in training, only get hotel for the first two weeks, lower pay and no per diem. So - lets first take care of our gals/guys before we get things for people in training at other airlines.

If I had a preference, I would pick first to provide a hotel, then per diem then regular pay for new hires at Delta.

I would think that precedent has been established by Comair Aviation Academy / Delta Connection Academy. For more than a decade, the Delta name and logo (as well as Delta pilots) endorsed that program.

Delta could set up any deal they want with a school and/or student, and unless the DALPA contract states that an ALPA pilot shall have final say in any hiring decision, "poof!" instant Delta new-hire pilot.

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/199/4510/1024/ad2.jpg

Or am I missing something?